


Mania

by ChicagosLights



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy
Genre: F/M, I don't know how to write tentacle sex but there's a first time for everything, M/M, Pete is a symbiote, Saving the World, Secret Organization, Semi-smut, freelancer Patrick, the violence will differ between simply getting stabbed to possibly gratuitous scenes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:40:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24555568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChicagosLights/pseuds/ChicagosLights
Summary: Patrick's just a freelance writer, nothing too flashy and nothing too world-noting worthy. Unfortunately for him, the universe quite literally has a different plan for him; an accident at a well-known organization named The Absinthe Corporation has Patrick waking up to a whole new world of secret organizations, underground agencies that have been harboring alien creatures for years, finding out the fate of the world rests in his hands-oh right, and the fact now he has a backseat driver sharing his body with him that may or may not love him in a very disturbing way by human standards.Just your average week right?
Relationships: Patrick Stump/Pete Wentz
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

The first thing Patrick registers when he wakes up is that it’s dark and there’s the faint smell of something...cooking? He groaned and tried to sit up only to find he’s being his wrists tied behind him and he realizes he’s already sitting up, leaned back against what feels like a pipe. His hearing started to work again and distantly he heard cars honking and driving and there’s footsteps somewhere in the room he’s in; slowly he managed to open his eyes a crack, not really showing him much, but the room seemed dim enough that he could make out the images of a small apartment. 

A figure moves into view and kneels down “hey, you up now?” 

Patrick doesn’t recognize the voice, fuck was he kidnapped? Is he about to be killed or something worse? “Nng?”

“Hang on, don’t move too fast or do anything quickly. If you can’t open your eyes yet that’s fine, I turned the lights off save for a few lamps. I’m going to get you some water okay?”

“Nnn…” Patrick scrunched his eyes closed and leaned his head back, this person was a pretty kind kidnapper. 

Whoever it was walked back to him, Patrick flinched when a cold hand tilted his head back a little “I’d untie your hands but I don’t know what it’s thinking right now and I don’t want to have to kill you” 

What? “Huh?” 

“I’m gonna pour the water now, don’t choke”

Somehow he didn’t, Patrick practically inhaled the water and when the bottle was moved away with inhuman speed Patrick snapped forward with eyes wide open now; the room looked like a hideout almost, a few lamps in different corners with dim lights and by the wall across from him was a little kitchen. The voice now had a face to it, it was a little hard to see but Patrick at least could make out a lot of tattoos and there was a handgun being pointed at Patrick’s face. 

“Well at least now I know it’s still alive” what? Patrick felt his stomach roll and he jerked forward with a dry wretch “shit, hold on” 

A bucket was placed in his lap and Patrick half leaned against it, it was like the water triggered something in his stomach because it felt like he was having a violent flu. The guy moved away again somewhere out of Patrick’s vision, there was a static sound that Patrick vaguely recognized as a walkie-talkie (fuck was Patrick about to be sold?). There was few more dry wretches before Patrick felt sure enough to lean back again, he looked over where the guy was to see him peeking through closed shades. 

“What the fuck are you doing to me?”  _ fuck  _ talking hurt, had Patrick been screaming all night? “What the fuck did you  _ give  _ me?” 

“Keeping you alive and I gave you water. That thing will kill you faster if you’re dehydrated” the guy paused the hooked the walkie-talkie to his belt “look you’re just an unlucky guy that ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. I haven’t drugged you if that’s what you’re wondering and I’m not going to kill you or whatever you’re thinking. I’m trying to help you stay alive and if possible get that parasite out of you”

_ Parasite?  _ Great so Patrick had been kidnapped by a lunatic, he was probably going to have his organs sold or something else grotesque-a new wave of nausea hits him and Patrick does vomit this time, thank God it all lands in the bucket. The guy curses and snatches the walkie again, whoever he’s talking to sounds just as stressed as he does and while Patrick wants to focus on the conversation his vision is starting to go in and out. 

“-don’t know, bring your guys over! I think it’s killing him or he’s rejecting it!” it? It being the parasite? Fuck is Patrick diseased with some kind of exotic bug-

_ “Pa-ter-ic-ka” _

His head snapped up and he stared at nothing,  _ what the fuck was that? _

“Did you just say my name?” Christ he sounded drunk

The guy looked over at him with a 5 second look from confused to realization “Shit okay-okay I don’t think it’s rejecting him after all”    
  
“What the FUCK are you talking about!” Patrick lurched again and threw up more, the bucket being this close wasn’t helping now “fuck what did you drug me wi-with!” 

Patrick was sweating bullets and it felt like he was sitting in a literal fire, the ropes around his wrists were starting to dig and he wondered if circulation was being cut off. He was dying, he  _ had  _ to be dying to feel this way or maybe the parasite was the fucking chestburster from  _ Alien _ . 

There was a growl, a monstrous growl that seemed to be coming from nowhere and Patrick felt twitches in his shoulder muscles.

_ “Don’t call me a parasite”  _

With that, Patrick promptly passed out.

* * *

Earlier that night…

_ Patrick vaguely knew that Gerard’s job was too secret-secret to really talk about whenever they went out somewhere, so really when he invites Patrick to come to the lab later that night he’s pretty put off by it. Still he drove up to the building and waited in the parking lot for Gerard to come out and get him. Now that it wasn’t day time the bright and shiny and-in Patrick’s opinion-obnoxious building belong to the Absinthe Corporation the whole place looked ominous, kind of like a Hollywood Villains lair. He mused over this before jumping with a shriek, Gerard peeking in his window grinning.  _

_ “What the hell dude” Patrick locked his car and followed Gerard up the walk way.  _

_ “Don’t get mad at me for your lack of awareness. Thanks for coming by the way, I know it’s late and this is sudden but-but I need to show someone what’s going on”  _

_ Okay, that didn’t sound scary at all.  _

_ The building was eerily dark, even the few offices around with their faint lights looked dead. Patrick started to get an uneasy feeling as they boarded an elevator and went down further than he’d seen available earlier that day, 8 floors down to where when the doors opened there was an empty hallway leading in 3 different directions.  _

_ “This uh, this must be pretty big huh?” Patrick glanced down both halls to see several doors but Gerard was heading down the one in front of the elevator “hey I’m not-you won’t get fired for me being here right?”  _

_ “No no, I told Mr. Weekes you were friends with an investor”  _

_ “What!” Patrick hurried to catch up with him, around them were clear rooms but it took a second glance for Patrick to notice they weren’t rooms “are those holding cells? Gee what the hell is going on”  _

_ “I know it was a lie but Mr. Weekes doesn’t need to know the truth, I can just say it was too much for you to and that you decided to not speak of it” Gerard paused to press some keys into a little pad and the door in front of them clicked “I’m-look I’m not proud of what’s been happening here Patrick I didn’t even know that this was the intentions Mr. Weekes had. I thought we were just trying to help people and this isn’t helping, it’s ceaseless murder”  _

_ That was pretty contrary to what Patrick had seen in the news; curing diseases thought to be incurable, finding new ways to power machines and lowering pollution scales, hell even providing jobs for families in low-income places. Murder, last time he checked, had not been in that list; hesitantly he followed Gerard through the door and looked around, this room was full of high-tech things you’d think were only in sci-fi movies.  _

_ “Gerard Way tell me right the hell now what you’re showing me. This stuff doesn’t even look like-I don’t even know” Patrick looked over at his friend standing by a control panel, for fuck’s sake Patrick wasn’t a scientist he was just a freelance writer _

_ “Patrick, Dallon Weekes has been taking people off the streets and from low income homes to try and test...these things” before he could even ask Gerard finished typing in whatever he was doing and a metal shield in front of the control panel slowly rose up. _

_ Moving to stand beside him all Patrick saw was an empty cell similar to the ones in the hallway, he frowned and started to say something but stopped when he noticed some...thing, blob or whatever, against a corner of the left wall. Morbid curiosity got the best of him, Patrick walked around the panel to get closer to the glass; Gerard said something but it was lost when the blob with lightning speed shot at the glass, Patrick fell back with a scream and watched it ungulate and move around the glass.  _

_ “What the fuck is that thing!” Gerard helped Patrick stand back up, he shoved him away and stumbled a little “that-what kind of Thing alien bullshit is that?”  _

_ “Do you remember that rocket that came back to Earth a few weeks ago, how it crashed and yet somehow the crew survived?”  _

_ Right, yeah, everything went up in flames but somehow despite there being destroyed rocket everywhere and flaming bits of metal the crew had been alive and unharmed even. The blob was still angrily moving around the glass, in the faint light Patrick noticed it was iridescent kind of like oil almost.  _

_ “Things like that, we’ve been calling them Symbiotes, they were inside the crew members. This organization, I don’t know their name but they contacted Mr. Weekes and had the astronauts transported here. I didn’t see what happened only that I heard they were killed in an accident trying to remove the Symbiotes from them” Gerard went back to the control panel and started typing again “I should’ve known better but I wanted to believe we were going to help people”  _

_ The panel began to slide down again and Patrick watched as the thing writhed around on the floor, that thing was from space...that thing was an  _ alien.  _ He turned to ask Gerard what any of this had to with Weekes or what this shady company wanted when all hell broke loose; through the door both Gerard and Patrick heard gunshots followed by shouting, both men barely had time to react before the door was forced open and several bloody security guards ran in.  _

_ Gerard cursed and shoved Patrick away, yelling at him to hide while Gerard ran another way. Patrick didn’t hesitate to listen, ending up pressing his back against the metal panels as he heard gunfire all around him; glass shattered close by and he screamed probably giving himself away to whoever was down there. Sure enough he was roughly grabbed my his shoulder and a hand wrapped around his throat tightly, the cold metal of a gun was pressed against the side of his head as he was now being held hostage. Down the hallway Patrick saw two people with guns being pointed at him, what the fuck was happening?  _

_ “Drop your guns or I’ll kill this guy!” the man holding him jabbed the gun against his head and Patrick was pretty sure it would bruise.  _

_ The two men seemed to hesitate as they slowly lowered their guns, the man shoved Patrick forward and started to walk while digging the gun into his head; they barely got far before the control panel shot up in sparks, Patrick shrieked as he was thrown aside and the man holding him started firing shots at the other two down the hall. He curled into a ball and started praying he wasn’t about to die from gunfire, where the fuck had Gerard gone? The control panel being destroyed had now allowed the panels to rise up again and a loud thunk by Patrick’s ear made him jerk away, a bad idea as something grabbed his shoulder and shattered the cell.  _

_ “Oh fuck, get away from the-!” whoever was yelling was cut out as the thing leapt onto Patrick.  _

_ Patrick’s body jerked and spazzed around, it felt like he was being suffocated before his eyes rolled back before thankfully everything went dark. _

* * *

He jerked awake with a choked gasp to find he was no long tied up and now lay on a little cot, he was still in the apartment but now the guy was gone. Patrick licked his lips nervously and looked around one more time before trying to stand up, his knees buckled and he ended up falling to the ground. While trying to untie himself from the blankets he heard a door open and looked up to see the guy again hurrying over, he helped untangle Patrick and steadied him as he stood again. 

“Welcome back to the land of the living, glad I got back when you woke up. Come on, I had my partner bring you back some food. I know for a fact you’re going to be starving, well the both of you at least” 

Wait what? What’d-okay never mind that thought could wait later, the second Patrick smelled food he practically shoved the guy away and ripped the McDonald’s bags open to get to the burgers. Patrick wasn’t sure if he even breathed, all he knew was his body reacted violently once it seemed to realize how fast he was eating and he started throwing up again. Lucky for Patrick the guy had grabbed a trash bin and moved it over so Patrick didn’t make a mess on the floor, after a few moments he managed to stand again and gulped down the water offered to him. 

“You need to sit down again?” the guy was wasn’t much taller than Patrick he noticed but since Patrick was hunched over he was crouched down to look at him

“Who the fuck are you and what is going on” 

“Andy Hurley, as for what’s going on that’s a pretty long story. Come on, let’s go back to the cot” 

He let Andy guide him over and hung off his arm as he sat down, Andy handed him a remaining bag of McDonald’s and this time Patrick ate at a normal speed. 

“You’re not a scientist and you’re not a security guard either, why were you at Absinthe?” 

Patrick paused then swallowed “how do you know that?” 

“You answer me first then I’ll answer you” 

Right, at this point Patrick wouldn’t be surprised if this dude was some kind of secret agent or possessed by an alien too “A scientist that works there is my friend, he told me there was something he couldn’t stand anymore and asked me to see him...last night?” 

Andy nodded “Gerard Way? We caught him trying to run, he’s safe just so you know. We told him you’re fine too but I think that’s really up to your new friend”

Huh? 

As if on cue Patrick heard the same voice again 

_ “I have no intentions of eating you” _

Patrick screamed and scrambled to press back against the wall, he looked around but the only one was Andy “what the fuck, who was that?”

_ “Stop shouting Pa-ter-ic-ka, it’ getting annoying”  _

“That’s not how you say my name! It’s Patrick, Paht-ric!” insane, Patrick had clearly gone insane and probably got shot and now was suffering from blood loss 

_ “You’re being stupid” _

Clearly Andy was tired of this because he grabbed Patrick by his shoulders and shook him a little “knock it off both of you! Patrick I need you to listen to me okay? Absinthe has been doing experiments on these entities called Symbiotes, on accident one of them has bonded to you” 

“ _ What?  _ Is that what you meant by parasite?” 

_ “I’M NOT A PARASITE!”  _

Again Patrick screamed and grabbed at his head, holy shit he was-he had an alien inside him he really _ was  _ going to die. Andy let go of him and went back to the little kitcehn area, Patrick had no idea what he was doing but at this point he could’ve cared less because there was something inside him and he was going to end up like those dead people. 

_ “No you won’t, I already told you you won’t. Listen to me, I won’t kill you’ _

“Bullshit” 

“What’d he say to you?” Andy returned and sat at the edge of the cot, probably a good idea

“He keeps telling me he won’t eat me” 

“If he wanted to he would’ve eaten you by now. I know that sounds bad but really he could drain you and hop to a different host, he had plenty of time before hand while we were transporting you here. Look are you hungry still? I have to check on someone but my partner’s coming over here to stay with you, he’ll explain what he can”

_ “More burgers, I like those’ _

Patrick flinched at rubbed at his arms “um, he-I think a he, he wants more burgers?”

“Of course. I’ll tell my partner, stay here please Patrick, you’re safe here” with that Andy got up and left again. 

Now that he was alone Patrick felt even more terror, what if that-what had Gerard and Andy said? A...a Symbiote, what if the Symbiote was waiting for Andy to leave so it could eat Patrick. 

_ “If I ate you then I would die. You die,  _ I  _ die, understand?” _

Patrick flinched and pressed his face into his hands, he just wanted to cry now.

“ _ Stop it, you’re sad. You’re afraid of me, I told you I won’t hurt you, what more do you want me to say?” _

_ “ _ Get out of my body” 

_ “I can’t, you’re a good host. Go get some water, you’re body’s getting dehydrated”  _

“Fuck you” nice retort Stump. 

The Symbiote said nothing after that, Patrick sniffled but managed not to cry; he crawled off the cot and hesitantly walked around the room just to do something. There wasn’t much to see, the lights were fully on now so at least Patrick saw the apartment wasn’t as shitty as he first thought-his phone! It sat on the counter in the kitchen, Patrick hurried over and snatched it up to see if it was damaged. Somehow it wasn’t but it wasn’t turning on, fuck what if it was broken after all? 

_ “Get water, you’re already by the sink”  _

Patrick scowled and glared at his hands “I don’t need water, I’m fine-”

He squealed as his body jerked forward by itself, his arms moved to turn the sink on and he leaned forward only to end up choking as the water filled his mouth. 

“Asshole! You can’t-I’m not your fucking puppet!” 

_ “Drink water then”  _

Patrick grumbled but carefully leaned forward and took a few gulps “happy now? Fuck-okay this is too much for me. Why are you in me? Why didn’t you go to one of those guards or something, aren’t they better? In case you haven’t noticed...whoever you are, I’m not super fit or even remotely within shape”

“ _ Mania”  _

“I-what?”

_ “Whoever you are. My name is Mania” _

Patrick blinked slowly then pressed his hands to his eyes again “ok...great...so I know your name now. So answer me, Mania, why the fuck did you choose me? Even Andy said it himself you could have gone to anyone” 

“ _ You were there, I wanted out of that place”  _

“I was convenient then huh? Well then leave, you’re out of that place” 

He flinched at the hiss he heard and hugged himself, the Symbiote just wanted to play with its food probably. 

_ “You’re mine, but you’re not my food”  _ something nudged his hands and Patrick spread his fingers only to gasp, it was like an eel almost and the mouth full of teeth wasn’t comforting “ _ go sit down, you’re too tired to be standing”  _

This time Patrick didn’t have a retort, he just went back to the cot and leaned back against the wall staring at the Symbiote. With the lights on it the iridescent shine looked brighter and trippy almost as the creature moved around looking at Patrick, he recoiled when the Symbiote tried getting in his face (why did its eyes look so milky? ew). 

“ _ You’re one to talk, your kind are so fragile I could eat your pancreas right now and cause all kinds of troubles for you”  _ Patrick whimpered and recoiled against the wall, the Symbiote sighed and disappeared into Patrick’s arm “ _ you’re stressed out now, you need to rest. Willingly or I can force you to, your choice”  _

Patrick chose willingly. 


	2. Chapter 2

He doesn’t know how much time passes, all Patrick knows is when he wakes up there’s light filtering in through the shades across the room. For just a second he thinks he probably crashed somewhere to get a piece done, all of this is thrown out the window when he sits up to rub his face and after putting his hand down he jerked back at seeing the eel-creature in front of him again. 

“It wasn’t a dream” 

_ “Sorry to disappoint”  _ Mania grumbled before disappearing again “ _ you were restless in your sleep, you don’t seem to have very good dreams”  _

“Do you dream?” no response, Patrick sighed and stood up from the cot stumbling a bit “did-did um, anyone come by yet?” 

“ _ You were only asleep for twenty-six minutes”  _

“What? Why’d I wake up, how’d you know I was dreaming” 

He didn’t appreciate the snicker “ _ I’m  _ inside  _ you, Patrick, I can see everything about you. Want me to prove it?” _

“No, the only thing I  _ want  _ is you to leave my body. I don’t appreciate a backseat driver” 

  
Mania growled but went silent again, small blessings Patrick guessed; he went back to the sink for a bit of water and checked to see if his phone would turn on this time, it did but only for him to see it was coded now. Fuck, he didn’t do that, did Andy or whoever else he was with do it? Great, who knew how much Patrick was missing! That thought left though when he looked up to see the window reflecting his face back at him-or rather, something else looked back at him; it had the same eyes as Mania although bigger now, mouth full of teeth looking larger than before and the faint iridescent sheen looking trippy. 

“Holy fuck” 

“ _ Symbiotes reproduce asexually, but if you want…”  _ what the hell, the alien knew dirty jokes? 

“Can you stop mocking my existential crisis right now? Just-literally  _ just  _ last night and yesterday I thought the world was going to shit but supposedly some hot-shot company was going to help us all. I was going to do a fucking article about plants and how they’re figuring out how to grow them now in highly polluted areas and-and  _ now  _ I find out not only do aliens exist but I’m now roped into this fucking conspiracy bullshit or whatever and-just fuck you” Patrick choked on his words the whole time and felt tears begin to sting his eyes “save all your shit talking for your next host or whatever” 

Patrick felt then a sense of surprise though it wasn’t his own, the reflection disappeared to show a red-faced and teary eyed freelance writer staring back at him.

“ _ What do I have to do to prove to you I have no reason to hurt you? You’re my host, Patrick, you’re mine. To hurt my host would be counter-productive to get what I want-” _

“Right and then you’ll just use me up and drop me? Like those people at the labs and what Gerard was telling me. You don’t  _ care  _ about me so just drop it, when all of this gets explained to me I’ll find some guard or weight lifter and you can go and do whatever the fuck you want” 

Apparently that was not the right thing to say because suddenly Patrick was thrown to the ground and felt his body being held down by some invisible force. Any attempts to move his arms or legs resulted in them being sucked back down, Mania was holding him down. 

“ _ You are NOT listening to me! I will not eat you, I will not hurt you, I will not kill you! I  _ I  _ NEED you Patrick!”  _

“Fucker let me go!” 

The door was thrown open and two guys ran in, one pointing a gun around and the other looking in Patrick’s direction. 

“Shoot me and do me a favor!” Patrick shouted, managing to almost free his arm this time but Mania immediately pinned it again 

“What in the hell is ti doing to the guy?” gun man asked

The other many pulled out what looked like a taser and calmly approached Patrick “let him up or I’ll separate you from him. Andy gave me permission if I need to to fuck you up” 

Patrick flinched at the snarl Mania made, it would be nice if other’s could hear him, and the man found his limbs were his again. He was helped up and moved to the cot again, gun man decided to stay outside the door while Patrick’s helper stayed with him. 

“Joe Trohman, I think Andy told you I’d be stopping by?” 

“Yeah, to...to explain things to me” 

Joe nodded, he gestured to the closed door “that’s Frank, I might have to run and help Andy at some point so just so you get names out of the way”

“What’s happening to me?” Patrick flinched at his own voice crack “I’m-I just want to go back to my apartment”

“I know, I know this is so  _ so  _ very fucked and out of your element of anything you could’ve imagined. Alright so, so the Symbiote has been talking to you? I’m guessing you guys had a fight” Joe studied Patrick for a moment “okay so, there is a lot we need to tell you in a short amount of time but let’s start with what’s going on in Absinthe”

“So these Symbiotes, the one in you too, this isn’t the first time they’ve come to Earth. There’s recorded evidence dating back a long time ago and maybe even before humans were around for all we know. Things like Absinthe and other places aren’t the first to capture and try to use the Symbiotes for killing and near taking over the planet. Not all of this is by human design, sometimes the Symbiotes manipulate people into doing these things or just full on take over their consciousness until they’re just puppets” 

Panic spread through Patrick hearing that “that is not convincing me any further that Mania isn’t going to kill me” 

“Its name is Mania? Never mind, not important at the moment. No not all Symbiotes are like that, some of them just want to get home and others were following after the bad ones to try and stop them from killing. I don’t know what Mania has planned for you but I trust Andy and Andy thinks it won’t hurt you. Look that crash that happened a few weeks ago, with all those astronauts? They were removed from hospitals and told that they died on impact which was total bullshit, this organization that we don’t know the name of took them from the hospitals and sent them to Absinthe Corporation to test on the Symbiotes” 

“The people who did that know about these creatures and most likely know what they’re capable of, Dallon Weekes is just a pawn in the grand scheme of things. He doesn’t know what they can do or what they’re going to be planning, all he knows is that he needs to get the Symbiotes to get into a proper host and then he’ll ship them back off to whoever is working in the shadows right now” 

That...was a lot to take in, Patrick made a strangled noise and pressed his hands to his eyes “I...you know how crazy all of that is sounding to me right? So-so what I was in the wrong place at the wrong time” 

“More or less. I know this is all way too much for you right now and I can’t imagine what it’s like having a bug inside you-”

“ _ Bug!”  _

“ _ Don't- _ don’t call him a bug, he doesn’t like being called a bug” 

Joe winced and nodded “right sorry, I don’t know what it’s like but I can imagine it really sucks-”

The door opened and Frank peaked in “Joe, you’re needed, I guess they’re being difficult like usual” 

“Fuck-okay uh here” Joe handed Patrick a drawstring bag “it’s not professional but it has files that can explain better than me. I’ve got to go, Frank should have your guys’ food, don’t go anywhere for now” 

“Where would I even go” 

Joe didn’t respond and hurried out, whoever was being difficult must’ve really been important. Once he was gone Frank shut the door and leaned back against the wall, what a way to size someone up huh?

“Can I get the McDonald’s now?” 

“What’s it like having something else inside you?” Patrick blinked, the fuck? He just wanted his food dude “I heard it hurts like hell the first few hours” 

“Uh-shit!” Patrick barely caught the bag thrown at him, awkwardly juggling it until he got a grip on it “when I woke up Andy gave me a bucket to throw up in. so yeah it sucked, lots of throwing up and sweating and it felt like I was dying. Pretty sure I passed out for a bit” 

“Gross, is that what that is over there?” he nodded to the pipe and sure enough there was a few dark splattered stains “that must’ve really sucked”

“It did” Patrick took a few bites out of the cheeseburger before opening the drawstring bag “can I ask where Joe went?”

“You can but I can’t tell you where. That’s classified, right now you’re under our protection until we can find a new host for the Symbiote” 

Mania snarled and Patrick almost choked at the sound “um-uh he doesn’t like that, he doesn't want to leave me” 

“Oh yeah? Well you don’t really get a choice if Andy gives the say-so” Frank paused then turned turned around to peek through the shades “uh...stay here”

“Wait what? Hey!” Patrick ran to the door as Frank left, he looked down the hall to see him disappearing down the stairs “how am I supposed to protect myself!” 

“ _ You still aren't listening to me”  _ Mania appeared again and narrowed his eyes “ _ You die, I die, I can’t let that happen”  _

“You, shut up, go away” Patrick snapped back, the Symbiote growled but melted away again. 

He shut the door and locked it though he doubted that would do any good, despite knowing better Patrick peeked through the shades; down in the parking lot Frank seemed to be in a pretty heated discussion with someone taller than him, Patrick ducked when both men looked up at the window and backed away. 

“This is insane, this so fucking insane”

“ _ Calm down, go read the files you were left. That might explain some things to you”  _

“I...yeah, yeah okay..”

*

If Patrick thought Joe’s explanation was too much, he was a small chapter book compared to the files; records of secret organizations literally saving the world and stopping criminals Patrick vaguely remembered learning about in school, Symbiotes of different powers and kinds, different ways they got to Earth and the different secret Agencies that used them for good, Patrick felt like his head was about to explode. Mania had stayed silent the whole time until Patrick had started shaking from overwhelming information, slimy tentacles appeared from his chest and pushed the documents away and grabbed the pillow from the wall. 

“ _ Stop, you’re brain is pulsing too much and blood vessels are narrowing. Unless you want a severe headache, take a break”  _

The squishiness made Patrick feel a little better, Frank hadn’t returned from whoever he was yelling at and Patrick wondered if he even was still in the parking lot; what if they’d abandoned him until Mania got tired and just ate Patrick? If some Symbiotes were evil just because Andy seemed to be the leader didn’t mean Frank or whoever else was in their group had to agree with him and maybe Frank left Patrick for food until Mania died from lack of a host too. 

“Stop  _ thinking, focus on something else” _

“Will you shut up! What the hell can I focus on, I’m in some bunker-esque apartment, my life has been thrown out a window, I have an alien inside me and there’s a chance I’m being held against my will!” 

“ _ Then let’s leave”  _

What? 

“I can’t”

“ _ Maybe you can’t, but we can”  _

“Wha-we means me still-hey!” 

Patrick’s body jerked up and he started walking towards the door, no matter how much he complained Mania was the puppet master now; it felt like a paralysis dream really, Patrick knew he was breathing and could see but his legs weren't his and he couldn’t even move his arms. A faded and chipped sign said they were on the 4th floor, Patrick heard Mania chuckle and it was good to know at least that he still had control of his vocal chords because a large black tentacle came from his arm to shatter a nearby window. He screamed again when he leaped and landed perfectly like a bird perching before jumping to another building nearby. 

“What the fuck! What the actual literal fuck you are going to get me  _ killed!”  _

“ _ No I am not, stop screaming you’re going to alert people. You said you wanted to leave, so now we’re leaving”  _

“To where? My phone is still back there!”

“ _ You’ll live”  _

Before Patrick could say anything else he felt something thick and heavy envelop his body, he blinked and could see clearly but looking around him he saw that Mania had covered him like some kind of costume. Before the Symbiote jumped again Patrick heard his name shouted behind them, he couldn’t even shout back because Mania was back to jumping over buildings and heading wherever the hell this thing thought it was taking Patrick. Despite now being kidnapped by the thing living inside him and also not being able to move his limbs willingly Patrick found himself trying to focus on other things, mainly how heavy the Symbiote might’ve been because every time he landed somewhere the concrete or bricks would crumble just a little under his hands and feet. 

It took the human a few good seconds to realize the neighborhood Mania had just taken him to, either the Symbiote was that fast or the apartments weren’t that far because this was about 3 miles away from Patrick’s place. 

“Wait hold the fuck on!” Patrick shrieked as they crashed into a tree, absolutely horrified as it bent under their weight for a moment “fuck-okay get whatever the hell is going on off me! We’re not that far from my apartments I”m just going to walk and not cause any property damage”

“ _ Not my fault your planet builds structures so fragile”  _

“My fucking planet doesn’t know about you freaks”  _ shit  _ okay even Patrick had to admit that was harsh. 

Mania didn’t say anything though, instead dropping down safely and disappearing from around Patrick, he winced and pressed a hand to his chest starting to say something but stopping; he was pretty lucky it was so early in the morning that people were still attempting to wake up, managing to scrounge up some change Patrick rode the morning bus a few blocks from his place and felt another wave of exhaustion seeing the building up ahead. He waved to a few neighbors walking out but hurried to the stairs, he just wanted to fall asleep in his actual bed. 

His messy apartment had never looked so appealing when he opened the door, Patrick stumbled a little as he started to head towards the bedroom only for his body to jerk to a stop again; before Mania could even say anything Patrick interrupted with more anger than he’d felt for years. 

“Okay asshole  _ Listen  _ up!” apparently Mania took that anger seriously “you keep fucking saying that-that I’m supposed to be important to you or some shit but you’re treating me like a fucking puppet!” 

“ _ I am not! I am trying to keep you alive and you wanted to leave, didn't’ you? I gave you that”  _

“It’s fucking violating!” Mania went quiet at that, Patrick shaking and sighed “it’s-it’s fucking disturbing okay? Suddenly I don’t have control over  _ my  _ body and something else is, I am literally like a puppet when you do that and it’s terrifying and it scares me. Do you even understand that? Do you even know what fear is, what violation is?” 

Nothing, Patrick could tell Mania was still listening (funny that, that now he was starting to be able to tell things about the Symbiote) but he said nothing; the human groaned and headed to his bedroom, kicking his shoes off and tossing clothes aside Patrick was out before he hit the mattress.

* * *

“We’re getting pizza and you’re not bitching about it” 

Patrick had taken a shower once he’d woken up (telling Mania to mind his own business though the Symbiote was still ignoring him) and thrown on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt, he’d started to notice that he was hungry all the time now despite having had who knew how much McDonald’s only a few hours prior. Pizza was ordered including a few extra foods and Patrick sunk back into the couch with a deep sigh, the landline was fine but he needed to get his phone back. Speaking of, what happened to Andy’s group anyway? If they were supposed to be keeping an eye on Patrick why hadn’t they found him yet? Actually they had, maybe someone was spying on Patrick right then and there or someone followed Mania last night. If that was the case it’d be fucking nice if Patrick could get his stupid phone back. 

It felt weird to actually try and go back to the mundane, Patrick went to his office to get his laptop and headed back to the sofa; he wrote up 9 pages in the blink of an eye before he jumped at the loud knocks on the door, right the pizza he’d completely forgotten-

_ “Don’t open the door”  _

“Shit!” Patrick almost dropped his laptop, he placed it on the sofa before standing but paused “why?” 

“ _ Bad company”  _

“That doesn’t tell me anything, you could say that about my neighbor practically” Patrick walked over anyway and peeked through the peephole, just as fast he jerked back a few feet “uh-who the fuck is that?” 

“ _ I told you, bad company. Let me eat them-” _

“ _ Eat _ them?” Patrick didn’t know why he was surprised at Mania saying that but still! 

3 knocks happened again “Mr. Stump, are you in? This is serious business” 

“Yeah you have a fucking gun, asshole” Patrick looked nervously at the handle before slowly opening the door “hello, can I help you? Are you an officer?” 

The man looked confused for a second before apparently remembering he had a gun “ah, sort of. I work with the Absinthe Corporation and last night there was an incident. Your car was found in the parking lot”

“Yeah I was there but not at night, I was helping a friend move some things from his car into the building. Was there a break in?” Patrick was shit at a poker face but if he was lucky right now he’d be grateful to whatever deity existed “my friend was complaining of a headache so I drove them home and forgot to go back and get my car. I was about to call a tow-truck to see if they could go get it, I lost my phone and keys on my walk home I’m afraid so I haven't been able to do much” 

“I see” the man studied Patrick for a few seconds before nodding “well thank you for your time Mr. Stump, I can’t give any information away but you can watch the news to see what happened. Have a nice day” 

“You too” Patrick shut the door and wheezed, leaning back against it and sliding down “shit, shit shit, they know I took you” 

“ _ You didn’t take me, I took you”  _

“Shut the hell up with your possessiveness! This is serious, I don’t know where Andy or anyone is and Absinthe could kill me like those astronauts!” 

Mania scowled and Patrick once again had no control of his body, he was moved over to the window to see down in the parking lot the security guard talking with a few other men; to Patrick’s horror they all started towards his building again, fuck he was done for. 

“ _ You’re quick to assume you’ll die”  _

Patrick said nothing, momentarily seeming to have control of his body again and decided to do something quite crazy; he didn’t know if there were any other men stalking out in the parking lot but Patrick threw caution to the wind and opened his window, so Mania wouldn’t let him die? Then he’d better catch him somehow. Embarrassingly-to Patrick at least-he shrieked as he started to fall from his window but just as he’d hoped Mania did catch him in a way, covering his legs in the black goo again as Patrick landed before disappearing. Admittedly as Patrick ran from the building he hand’t really thought this far ahead, could he go to Gerard’s? Probably not, even if Gerard had been safe like Andy had said a lot could happen in a few hours and for all Patrick knew the security guard or whoever he really was had already gone to Gerard’s place. 

Maybe he could try and find those apartments again? That would’ve been a goose chase he bet, if Andy’s group was some kind of secret organization then they wouldn’t be there still and might’ve already moved on. That and he doubted he’d even remember how to get there, Mania probably wouldn’t help him out anyway since they seemed to be..fighting still? Ignoring each other? Patrick huffed and slowed down his walk when he got to a more populated area, at least this time he grabbed something that was helpful and paid the bus fare once he found a stop. 

_ Going to Gerard’s is the best bet I can think of, what else can I do?  _ Patrick glanced around nervously  _ just get to Gerard’s and I can figure it out from there _

“ _ That’s stupid, you’re being stupid”  _ Patrick winced and glared down at his shoes “ _ let me take care of them, we should go back and you should’ve let me bite their heads off. Heads are good food”  _

“Will you shut up?” Patrick felt his face heat up upon realizing he said that out loud, the guy in front of him turned around to glare “ah-sorry man, having a headache” 

“Keep it to yourself then bud, alright?” 

A spark of annoyance included Mania growling “ _ keep your head to yourself asshole”  _

Patrick stood up and hurried to the back area of the bus, thankfully it was empty but the driver and a few passengers did send him confused looks “ _ stop  _ threatening to eat people. If you’re hungry-aw shit I ordered pizza at home. Those assholes are getting  _ my  _ free pizza” he huffed and rubbed at his face. 

“ _ I need food, Patrick, either you can let me eat other humans or you figure something out”  _

“Look, when I get to Gerard’s I will fucking feed you-”

The bus stopped and someone else walked on, Patrick felt a series of emotions recognizing ti to be Joe; he didn’t look at Patrick until he was near the back and then fixed him with a nasty glare. He shrank in his seat as Joe sat a seat away from him, it wasn’t until the bus started moving that he spoke. 

“What the fuck Patrick, we told you to stay put” 

“I didn’t leave willingly!” he froze and coughed a little when a few people looked back at them “I-Mania made me, I didn’t have any control of my body” 

Joe winced and sighed heavily, he rubbed at his face before nodding “well I’m just glad I found you, our group is all over the city trying to find you. Where were you even gong?”

“I um, some people from Absinthe came to my building. I didn’t know what to do so I was just going to go to Gerard’s” Patrick huffed at the look Joe gave him “we-well it’s not like you guys gave me an address where to head to! I was scared okay, Mania kept taking control and it sucked”

“Is he talking to you?” 

“Sometimes, we’re mainly fighting because he doesn't seem to fucking understand boundaries” 

Joe shook his head and pulled a phone out, the rest of the bus ride was quiet then until they reached a stop and Patrick followed Joe off. They walked a bit until they reached what looked like a bookstore and headed inside, a few patrons glanced their way but otherwise they were completely ignored. Patrick paused when Joe went behind the counter past a curtain, right because it was enough that everything else lately had been screaming shady business; he followed after Joe having to speed-walk a little to catch up but stopped dead in his tracks. 

“What in the fuck?”

“That’s one way to react” Joe looked up at him from the little metal staircase going down “you coming?” 

The room had computers along the walls and a table with tech that Patrick had no idea what it was, Joe sat down at the table and looked expectantly at Patrick. He took a seat across from him and stared at the items laying around before sighing weakly 

“What happened to my life?” 

“It got hijacked I’m afraid. Look after you disappeared Andy and I have been talking with someone and he thinks he can help, he was being a little difficult last night but I guess Andy managed to convince him so we’ll be finding a different host for Mania” 

There was a weird lurch in Patrick’s stomach hearing that, it wasn’t him surely it had to have been Mania “but-but I know all about this stuff now...won’t Absinthe try and kill me?” 

“We’ve taken that into account, Andy’s talking with some people and we know this isn’t ideal but we’re figuring out a place you can go where Absinthe can’t find you” 

“You’re  _ evicting  _ me from my home? Why can’t-” Patrick cut off and put his head on the table “you know what? I don’t even have any protests anymore. I just want to go back to my job and have a normal life, whatever you need to do to get rid of this thing is fine by me” 

  
Joe nodded and stood up “I’m going to wait out front for Andy or anyone else in our group, you stay here okay? I promise you’re safe and this time  _ please  _ don’t leave Patrick” 


	3. Chapter 3

So the time started; Patrick stared around the room occasionally while sometimes looking back over his shoulder to the bookstore area, Mania had gone silent again but Patrick figured he was just glad he was going to get a better host than Patrick now. If there was some shady organization thing happening then wouldn’t it be better for Symbiote to have a more fitted host? Tummy fat and slightly balding didn’t seem like much of a superhero, Patrick hummed quietly and went back to staring around at the different moving screens. 

“ _ Your pulse is erratic. What are you afraid of”  _ Patrick jumped then scowled at his hands

“Nothing, I’m just tired still because within a few hours my life has been thrown out of the usual. It’ll be fine though, in a bit I’ll have a new life in a new town” 

“ _ But you don’t want that”  _ how soft Mania’s voice was caught Patrick off guard “ _ you want to stay here, you like your job being here” _

“You don’t know what I want. What I know  _ you  _ want is to eat me, you already threatened it before so I doubt you’d have a problem actually doing it” 

No response for a few moments, Patrick sighed and leaned his face into his hands before Mania spoke up again “ _ we dream. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t, my kind don't sleep the same way humans do, but we dream”  _

What? “What are you talking about…” Patrick frowned but remembered then, this morning when he asked Mania that

“ _ I don’t want a different host, I want you Patrick. I don’t know how I’m supposed to prove myself to you, what I can do to prove myself to you. I can only promise I won’t eat you, that’s not enough for you though”  _

“ _ Why  _ do you want me as a host! You’re still avoiding that, I’m not-”

“ _ My kind aren’t picky about our hosts! It is difficult to find a host, to find a body that won’t die as we enter it. Not every body is stable enough but yours is for me. If they bring these people in, different people for me to try out, they will most likely die and it will be painful. We don't’ mean to make it painful, we just want hosts”  _

Patrick sat at on that thought now; Mania had threatened him but it seemed to be to keep Patrick alive (although he could still use the excuse it was to keep the host alive instead of really caring about Patrick), Mania had known Patrick just wanted to get home and despite causing property damage had done so, while yes it had been horrible having someone take over your body and yes it had been violating Patrick was starting to wonder if Mania really knew just how badly it had scared Patrick. 

“I...earlier I asked you if you understood what being violated was like. Do you?” 

Again Patrick could feel Mania thinking before the Symbiote spoke “ _ some of my kind have returned to our home before, they weren’t always the same anymore. Some of them were corrupted, they were...evil, wrong. They’d been hurt, forced to do things they didn’t want to and eventually that had infected them and caused them to be wrathful, they’d been forced to do things they had not wanted and like you said they were just puppets being used by the bad hosts”  _

And  _ that  _ had Patrick sitting up straighter and staring at the wall across from him in silent guilt and slight regret at yelling at Mania. Maybe this was all a ruse though, to get Patrick to pity him so that Mania could just stay in a convenient place; he felt Mania’s distaste at that thought but neither had long to think about it as they heard people coming their way. Patrick turned around to see Andy walk in with Joe following and 3 other people, he shrank a little at the disapproving look Andy gave him. 

“I’m not mad at you Patrick, I know you didn’t get a choice in the matter” Andy leaned back against once of the control panels “still I’m upset because we had no way of knowing what could’ve happened to you. I’m glad your’e alright” 

“I’m sorry” Patrick mumbled, looking at the 3 men-wait “Mikey?” 

“Hey” Mikey gave a weary smile and a half wave, why did it surprise Patrick Gerard’s little brother was here? “Sorry you got in this mess” 

“It’s uh-it’s fine…” Patrick shifted around the noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, quickly he stood up and knocked the chair over “whoa whoa, why-what’s that thing for?” 

Joe was holding the same taser thing he had when he told Mania to leave Patrick alone “hey hey, it’s not for you, if the bonding process doesn’t work out then we’re going to have to separate Mania before he can kill anyone on accident” 

Patrick swallowed nervously and glanced at the other 3 again, Mikey didn’t seem too nervous about this whole situation but the other two now looked a little more hesitant. There was a flash of fear and anxiety that definitely wasn’t Patrick, Mania was scared to leave him and if there was a chance that Patrick was going to have to see Gerard’s little brother maybe dying in front of him-

“I don’t want to do this anymore” he blurted out before really processing his own words, everyone now stared at him like he’d grown an extra head “I-maybe I was overreacting about the whole thing. This isn’t normal yeah but I don’t...I don’t want to get rid of him anymore” 

“Are you crazy-” Joe started but Andy put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. 

“You’re sure, one hundred percent sure? Because we’re not going to give you a second chance to get rid of the Symbiote. You’re stuck with it unless it wants to get rid of you” 

“Him, and yes I’m...yeah I’m sure” 

Andy seemed to consider this before nodding, Joe didn’t look too happy but didn't argue; he gestured for the other 3 to follow him and then Patrick was alone with Andy. 

“Why’d you change your mind?”

“I don’t know” Patrick wasn’t sure if that was true though “I don’t want people to get killed if the, if they can’t um get together right or whatever the right word is. I don’t want them to get tased either”

Andy hummed at that “noble but bullshit. If you want to keep it to yourself that’s fine, but I mean it Patrick. I’m not saying don’t try and trust Mania, for the long time I’ve been in this agency I’ve learned most Symbiote’s aren’t inherently bad but they’re not like humans” 

“I want...I want to see if this is good, if it’s not and eventually Mania does kill me then that’s my own fault. But please, please let me just...try this, whatever this thing is and whatever the future turns it into” Patrick picked at the hem of his shirt and found it a little hard to keep looking up now “but um, since I’m doing this now Absinthe is going to be hunting me down still isn’t it?” 

“They will yes. We still don’t know who is working with them now but we’ve been making progress with intel about it, do you remember last night when I had to leave? There’s a scientist we’re working with that knows some things but he’s a pretty stubborn guy. Since you’re sure you want to keep the Symbiote you’re going to have to come with us then, guess that means you’re part of the agency now. I’ll explain more on the way, Frank swung by your place earlier today and found some Absinthe people stalking around” 

Patrick sighed weakly and followed Andy out a back door, what did he just agree to?

* * *

The building was on the outskirts of the city and turned out to be an old reformatory now with the guise of being an “institution for new science”, Mikey who turned out to be part of Andy’s group had informed Patrick in the car as they neared the building the guy was rich and had roots in the original scientists that first discovered the Symbiotes in America. Apparently they’d been expected, as they neared a few guards were standing by the entrance doors along with a man with very fluffy hair. 

“Welcome back again” his arms were behind him and his smile was a little unnerving, Patrick wanted to go back to the car when the man looked at him “and you must be Patrick Stump, decided to keep your friend did you?” 

“This is Ray Toro, Patrick” Mikey gestured between them in an introductory way “don’t pay attention to any of the things he’ll say or ask about your Symbiote, he’s got a science brain” 

“It’s my job to learn about Symbiotes” Ray didn’t sound offended though “well come on inside, I already had an interesting visit from your friends at Absinthe” 

  
“What? What’d you tell them” Andy demanded as they followed him inside. 

“Oh come on, you all paid me and you know how I work. I only gave basic information, lied about a few things here and there, got them off my trail for now. As for what they were asking for they were wanting to know how long they had to let a body stabilize before the Symbiotes could bond fully with their hosts, apparently they’re having issues of their own. As of last night only two Symbiotes and the one Mr. Stump has are alive” 

There was a sharp pain that ran through Patrick’s body, he froze as the group continued and grabbed at his stomach; his eyes started to sting and Patrick realized Mania was crying, at least through him. 

“What’s wrong?” the group hadn’t seemed to notice Patrick wasn’t with them anymore, he watched as they turned a corner and disappeared. 

Mania didn’t respond for a few moments, all Patrick felt was terrible anguish “ _ nothing is the matter, I don’t know what you’re talking about. You shouldn’t be wandering, people will get suspicious”  _

Patrick frowned “I-hey I know...I know we’re not even close to being friends but I’m not sad and have no reason to cry-”

“Patrick, hey where are you?” Joe’s head popped around the corner “get over here, we can’t have you wandering around without Ray’s permission” 

“Coming!” he’d ask later, at least when he and Mania had time to be alone better so they could get any bad air out from between them. 

The room the group had settled in looked like half-computer lab-half laboratory with high tech similar to Absinthe, Andy and his group save for Mikey were sitting at a round table where Rya was pointing to holographic images. 

“You alright?” Mikey was leaning by the doorway, Patrick jumped not seeing him

“Um, yeah just...it’s a lot. Why aren’t you sitting down with the others?” 

He shrugged “honestly I’m too worried to really be able to sit right now. Ray says Gee’s missing” 

That felt like a rock was dropped into Patrick’s stomach “wha-why are we here then? Shouldn’t we be looking for him?”

“They’re trying to figure out where he could be, if we act irrationally my brother could die” MIkey let out a sigh borderline frustrated before looking back at Patrick again “hey, can I ask what it’s like? To have a Symbiote. I’ve never been connected to one, almost was way back when I was a teen but Gerard stopped me from it” 

“You guys have been part of this organization for that long-wait, does Gerard know about this place?” 

Mikey shook his head “no, Gee doesn’t know about The Folie agency-that’s what we’re called by the way. I can give you the short version or the long one, I don’t know if Ray will be to the point this time or not” 

Patrick shrugged “your choice” 

“Summarized version then. Found this weird blue kind of glittery thing in our basement one night, I tired to poke it but it tried crawling inside me. Gerard grabbed one of those long lighters and turned it on, whatever hopped into my body jumped out and I saw it crawl out our basement window. Gerard and me ran upstairs and I got to a window first and saw these people shoving the blob into a tube before Gerard could catch up to me. Since then I knew there was something up in the world, I was right about it being aliens” 

“Does Gerard know you’re in this group?” Patrick knew Mikey lived with a boyfriend or had at least when he and Gerard last had a casual conversation, would he know about his little brother in a secret agency though? 

“No. I didn’t want to tell him, they recruited me not that long ago, five years or four by now. Gerard started at Absinthe pretty young though, I feel guilty sometimes but I’ve reported a few things back to Andy whenever Gerard would call me and tell me about things” Mikey then stood and stretched “I’m going to walk around, I know Joe said we shouldn’t but I’m too antsy. You can come with if you want’ 

Patrick debated on it then nodded, Mieky waved to Joe who glared at the two but they were out of the room before he could say anything; Patrick gave the same answer he told Frank about what it was like having a Symbtioe and Mikey seemed content at that, the two managed to get a small conversation going about how weird the building was and sort of just whatever talk (Patrick getting asked about freelancing and in turn Patrick asked about Mikey’s life in general). There was a room they passed by at one point that had Patrick stopping, it looked like a sitting area...perfect for getting things out of the way. 

“Hey, I’m going to sit in here for a second. I can find my way back to that meeting room if I need to” 

Mikey just nodded and headed on down the hall; Patrick shut the door and sat down on the lazy chair, it rocked a little which felt lulling almost but no, now was not the time for naps.

“Mania?” 

“ _ Why’d you stop following him, you seemed to like conversation”  _

Patrick huffed a little “we should talk” 

“ _ You want to talk”  _ Patrick could hear the sarcasm dripping in that tone “ _ about what”  _

“You’re sad” 

A beat, then a growl “ _ I am  _ not  _ sad”  _

“But you are. Why were you on that asteroid belt? Can you kind travel on their own or do they need hosts to move around?” Patrick was picking at the chair arm now “if we’re going to make this thing work then we have to talk to each other. I wasn’t sad and suddenly I felt this terrible feeling when Ray said the others were dead, that wasn’t me it was you”

Again Patrick felt it, the anguish and tears burning his eyes before hearing Mania whimper “ _ we just wanted to go home. We had visitors, they bonded to a few of my kind and took some of us with them with a promise of a host. They lied, they left us to die in the asteroid belt, we didn’t mean to kill your people we just wanted to go home”  _

Oh, Mania… “they betrayed you” 

“ _ Left us to  _ die” more tears spring to Patrick’s eyes, Christ when was the last time Patrick himself felt this kind of pain?  _ “Alone now, the other two must be corrupted by now. We were all doomed to die the moment we were in those cages, but we thought we would be able to get out…” _

Patrick blinked and wiped at his eyes “I’m….I’m so sorry…” 

What would that be like? He wasn’t even sure he could imagine; not only being betrayed by people you thought were going to help you do what you wanted in life, but to be left to die all alone with no way to get home and when you throw all to the wind and hope that this mysterious ship that passes you by is a beacon for hope only to end up being trapped and still dying on a place far away from home...the other two as well, Mania had said hosts could corrupt the Symbiotes and if that was the case Patrick didn’t find it hard to believe that if they did run into whoever had the remaining two would not be so kind to see their friend again. 

“You’re not alone though” Patrick picked at his shirt again “it...it isn’t a lot but...I’m here” 

He wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to say considering the animosity he’d been showing Mania, but maybe it was since Mania appeared again and moved to nuzzle into Patrick’s neck. Unsure if he could or not Patrick reached up to find that yes, he could pet the Symbiote; Mania let out weak whimpers and distressed chirps while Patrick pet along his head and down his back, the human felt a mixture of guilt and what could be best described as….”light affection” while petting Mania. 

*

They had their little moment for a few hours before Mania decided disappear again, Patrick decided to try and see if he could find Mikey which turned out to be a bad idea; how BIG was this place? He’d called out a few times but no one had responded, in fact this section of the building seemed to be completely abandoned, not even a security guard or working camera seemed to be there. It was eerie as he walked the halls, outside the sun had started to get a little lower and cast shadows around that made Patrick tense; Ray did strange business didn’t he? What if he had something in this area and that was why everything was so dark, because only he was supposed to know what he was hiding in this section. 

“Mania?” 

_ “What”  _ Patrick sighed with a little relief “ _ your pulse is off, you’re frightened. What do you think is in this area? It’s only dark, there’s nothing to fear here”  _

“I-I know I just...getting in my head I guess” 

“ _ If there is something here I will tell you”  _ that made him feel a little better at least 

The hallway turned and began to twist, Patrick was starting to realize he should’ve back-tracked when something down the hall fell and crashed loudly; it felt like the beginning of  _ A Nightmare on Elm Street _ , where was that sheep hiding? Slowly Patrick began to walk back as the crashing sound turned into loud footsteps, angered animalistic snarls and growls were becoming louder and louder until something crashed into the wall down the hall. The thing looked like a large lupine creature, what was different though was the fact it was bright neon green with black accents here and there and the fact that it had 4 eyes.

“Oh fuck- _ oh fuck!”  _ Patrick raced back down the hall as behind he heard the lupine-creature let out a monstrous roar “what the  _ fuck  _ is that thing!” 

“ _ That-that was Surger, he isn’t supposed to look like that though. He’s been corrupted, whoever he’s hosting is corrupted”  _ Mania’s voice was mixed with anguish and bitter hatred “ _ Duck!”  _

Patrick threw himself to the floor, a black sludge carpeting his fall as he slid just in time to see the lupine jump over him with his jaw gnashing. Patrick scrambled to stand and not knowing if it made sense or not, silently gave Mania permission; he himself had no idea  _ what  _ he was giving Mania permission for but as Surger turned around again and bared his teeth at Patrick he hoped Mania would come up with something himself. Like before Patrick was wrapped up in the symbiotic suit, it was a weird feeling again but he didn’t have long to dwell on it as Surger charged again. They grabbed the lupine as it lunged, tentacles coming from their back to prevent the jaws from snapping shut and throwing Surger into the building wall; the bricks crumbled under it and the lupine was thrown out into the grounds outside. 

Surger was up again in a flash and lunged at the two before they could react, teeth tore through their shoulder and both cried out at the pain but Suger’s jaw went slack as they stabbed their arm in the shape of a large blade through Surger’s chest. The green Symbiote screamed and was thrown outside again, this time they followed after to make sure it wouldn’t get up again; their left arm became a series of black tentacles as they held Surger down, the green Symbiote began trying to fuse into them but just as fast they brought the blade down onto Surger’s head successfully decapitating them. 

Just as fast as the fight had started it ended, Mania releasing Patrick who collapsed backwards gasping and staring up at the now darkening sky while his shoulder bled profusely. Where the building was Patrick could hear alarms now and see faint flashing blue lights, there were voices and for a moment he thought he heard his name shouted before everything went dark. 


End file.
